Quiet, Raúl Quirós Sigh. He is an expert in calm, on and off the court. Perhaps so many years invested in the bowls taught him to breathe with that serenity. Not only to launch with precision towards the embarrassment, but also to sustain, against everything, the sport he loves. That same passion led him to assume the presidency of the Argentine Confederation of Bochas. The challenge is enormous: Bochas are a sport in danger of extinction. And although there are still tournaments that manage to convene many clubs – like the one organized by Unión Oeste, with 52 teams to celebrate its 79 years – the reality is hard and worrying.
The game lacks the speed of football, the adrenaline of basketball and rugby friction. It relies on other virtues: concentration, patience, temper. Maybe that’s why he won the stigma of “sport for old.” Today, most embarrassment exceeds 50 years. They no longer wear huge sacks or hats as in the early twentieth century, nor all white. Each team chooses its colors, and the outfits are more comfortable: chombas, shirts, flexible pants.
It is true: the number of young people struck. According to Quirós, of the 11,000 affiliates in Argentina, less than five percent are children. Recognize that there is no seedbed and that is a pending debt of the leaders. Even so, he is confident that those 300 boys will be the one who keeps the flame alive. And while one will be, there will be a game. Or at least that expects Quirós. “If the leaders do not work, we have little future to enjoy this sport,” he warns.
In Tucumán, the great championships such as the 2007 South American or the 2019 World Cup seem part of a distant past. Thinking about that caliber tournaments is almost a utopia. The crisis is not limited to the international: in the province there are only eight active clubs (Province, Citadel, Gath & Chaves, Amalia, Unión Oeste, Mariano Moreno, Belgrano and Villa Rosa) and 130 affiliates. A ninfimo number compared to other times.
The competition does not only come from other sports. Quirós insists that the advancement of technology changed priorities: many boys changed the books for cell phones. Other leaders point to the stigmatization of the game, often associated with bets, as a barrier to attract new players.
The functions are still the usual ones: Arrimar – to bring the Bocha to the embarrass – or Bochar – disappoint the rival. But there are less and less arms to do it.
Silvia Sansone, president of Unión West, and Raúl Quirós, president of the Argentine Confederation.
The economic situation also plays its part. Quirós says that most players are retired, and their salaries do not allow them to give the “luxury” to invest in sport. “While it is recreation, the amount they charge does not allow them to play the bowls. Before they went three or four times a week, but now, hopefully, once, you leave a lot of money,” he explains.
Clubs do not have constant income either. Unión West, for example, barely has 20 active partners who pay the fee per day. The rest are sporadic contributions. And that photograph is repeated in most of the clubs in the north of the country.
Not all are pale, says Quirós. The central area of the country, composed of Córdoba, Santa Fe and Buenos Aires, is the one that keeps the flame alive. Argentina also remains a power: he won 15 world titles.
“The valuable thing is that our players have to adapt to other styles and have no problems. For example, the World Cups are played under the Zerbine modality, but most here plays the South American Bocha,” he says.
Nicolás Pretto y Miracles Pereyra They are the great national referents and will represent the country in the World Games, a competition that brings together non -Olympic disciplines. It will be in Chengdu, China. “The expenses of the trip are covered by the Ministry of Sports of the Nation; the rest runs on our own,” he says.
They are already training in Colonel Moldes, Córdoba, where is the first Rafffa Volo -style court in the Everton club. “That court is 30 meters long by four wide; our standard measures are 23 by three,” he says.
There are also categories for all ages: Sub-9, U-12, Under-15, U18, Sub-21, third, second and first. In addition, Quirós promotes the inclusion of women with the creation of a +50 category and works to incorporate people from viewers to the discipline.
The bowls, in this way, are going through a tough reality, but Quirós maintains the hope that the situation will be reversed with work and effort. And there is no one of those virtues that the game teaches to position its passion again.